Horses and Exotic Animals in the 1700s ...

 

I gave a talk recently on George Stubbs (1724 – 1806) – known as the 'horse painter' … a man who shunned the conventional way of artistic learning: copying others' works – he taught himself.

Whistlejacket (1762)
Probably his most famous painting

He'd have none of it … his drawings, paintings, etchings would be 'all done from Nature'. Starting young, aged 8, he drew bones loaned from a doctor in his home town of Liverpool, unfortunately none survive …

Horses coming in, in all directions

... and that is the (lack of) story of Stubbs' life – he was a loner … silent to the world ... other than the extraordinary artistic works he left us.

side view Skeleton of a horse (1766)
{Courtesy of Wellcome Cllection}

Some notes were correlated in the 1800s – which became known as the (Ozias) Humphry (1742-1810)/(Joseph) Mayer(1803-1886) 'essay'.

Poor little zebra - her mate died on the
journey over; Stubbs painted her in her
green setting - not at all usual - but his
backgrounds were guessed at ... he never
left Europe. (1763)

He is known today mostly for his incredible horse paintings … yet probably his greatest skill was in the study of anatomy of animals. Two hundred and fifty years later … his horse ones are still considered definitive …

Cheetah and Stag with two Indians (1765)
It is painted as the Indian way of hunting with
cheetah, using a collar and sash to restrain
the animal, the hood has been pushed back
as she's about to be released.
(This was commissioned by Lord Pigot, who
had been Governor of Madras)

Before I go on – a thought … how will future generations think of us: 250 years on (2275 AD or so)??… as we are progressing life, so were our ancestors – many not in a way we approve of today.

Two Leopards  (c1776)

The 1700s were when lots of change was happening … scientific, exploration and agricultural revolutions … menageries were held by the wealthy and royals …

Rhinoceros (1780 - 91)
This was commissioned by Dr John Hunter -
the brother of William Hunter both Scottish
physicians and anatomists.
Poor animal died of injuries inflicted as a 
result of its predilection for sweet wine -
it's hard to be sure!

The art work I show here are of his exotics … due to the demand of the wealthy … whereby Stubbs could spend time at menageries to study these creatures … so accurate, even today …

Soldiers of the 10th Light Infantry (1793)
The King commissioned it.  Very stilted -
as was the norm in the 1700s

Then I came across the work being done by Pauleen Bennett an Australian scientist studying anthrozoology at La Trobe University, in Victoria, Australia – a field of study she founded.

The human body

Stubbs at the end of his life was wanting to compare the anatomy of the Human Body ... 

Common fowl

... with a common fowl, and a tiger body - sadly they were never finished.

Tiger body

We have moved on … we continue to learn, study, research – yet George Stubbs gave us this amazing record of anatomy … while letting us see his beautiful art works …

Self-portrait in 1782

I'd love to know what our successors will think about us in 250 years time … and obviously your thoughts on George Stubbs' …

I've included many of his exotics with notes, together with one or two of his anatomical horse engravings ... 

Royal Academy of Arts – George Stubbs …

The artsdesk.com – review of exhibition I saw in 2019 in Milton Keynes, UK

Wikipedia's article on Pauleen Bennett - anthrozoologist

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

D-day and world pain: 'Weltschmerz' ...

 

As it was D-day and I was remembering my parents who were 19 or 20 at the beginning of the war and 24 or 25 at the end … my father's birthday being at this time of year.

Melancholy - 1891

So in these tempestuous times … I wondered how to title the post … then frustratingly after the internet went down for nigh on 24 hours ...

… just when I needed it to be up and running for work that needed to get done, the ideal title for this post courtesy of Big Think appeared … link also below ... 

Suits me … melancholy at this time, yet uplifting as we're so fortunate to be alive and well … we all have our ups and downs …

Anxiety (1894)

... while in the last 80 years – since the end of the 2^nd World War - which was meant to be the end of all wars … discord never stopped and perhaps more so now as there's the non-stop news, social media traction – all of which add to people's insecurity …

... so rightly described in this article … where reality often doesn't live up to people's ideals and expectations.

Separation (1896)

I was going to include photos of three churches I visited recently ... covering 1,000 years of history - including many skirmishes, conflicts, war-mongering peoples ... locals and invaders ... but that can wait ... weltschmerz is more suitable ... 

An Optimist and a Pessimist by the
Russian artist Vladimir Makovsky (1893)

World Pain - unfairly affects the poor, the disenfranchised ... it also applies to our communities ... especially in these days of the 21st century ... 

As the BigThink article mentions … we can soften our weltschmerz by keeping our positivity out there, and refusing to be dulled by others … our spirits need to be up … 

Syrian girl in Istanbul ... looking wistful 
but with hope ... 

... we can all do it, I know we can … all those little positive actions, optimistic thoughts add up giving us a more generous view of life.

Big Think article: The upside of feeling dissatisfied with the world: How to work your "weltschmerz".

Please note unless mentioned the art is by Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944) - his Melancholy is the one chosen by Big Think to illustrate their article.  

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

WEP Get Togethers # 3 … Spring blues, with a touch of 'flambeau' …

It's ridiculous … it's still blowing a gale, and heaping lots of that chilly wet stuff on us … everything is green, when really we should be enjoying Spring blues. No doubt we'll be having water rationing later on – as we haven't enough reservoirs … but so be it …

June togetherness ... 

Our election is going to be in early July I'm very glad to say – let's get it out of the way so we get on with life … there's far too much discord going on: here, there, and everywhere … so I'll be happy to have ours over and done with.

When I wrote this post – I'd got no idea about the background to said 'flambeau' … we did have fun and games ??!!, which took a few days to get over … our fire-alarm goes off quite often, particularly since a challenged-family moved in to the basement flat next door.

Spring Blues ...

The house is divided into a variety of flats, but at one stage both sides of the house was a school – so the layout isn't the normal 'semi' that most would expect.

Two Thirty am (yes, early morning) – the alarm goes off … and stops, and goes off, and repeat, repeat … we're all tired of it – as it's usually set off by that family.

Hand held brazier by Joan
in the 1928 film Joan of Arc

I couldn't see anything serious, and looking at how other flat members were reacting, so went back to bed … but was then surprised to see two fire engines and an ambulance turn up.

The firemen went to work … by then I was up and about again watching from on high … got the hoses out, put their smoke equipment on … and went in – but that really was it.

I've since found out – curiosity necessitated itself … the wife was there on her own, so I could chat to her – apparently her husband doesn't sleep – he put some oil on for some french fries (what we call chips!), went to the loo … when he came back the pan was on fire … he managed to tip that over his foot …

Issam Kourbaj - exhibit at Kettles Yard, 
Cambridge in 2016

The place was full of smoke, the extractor fan had caught fire, the walls are in a state … he's now not in a fit state to do much, his wife is grafting to clean up … the two kids – another story – are away for now (bliss – no screeching from the little girl) …

This scenario … got me thinking … I was wise not to go out into the street in the early hours of the morning … common sense by me prevailing.

But brought to mind … Hilaire Belloc's 1907 poem 'Matilda' ...

Struwwelpeter

 ... and the one I was even happier to have happy memories of 'Struwwelpeter' by Heinrich Hoffman – which is available on Project Gutenberg … 'Merry Stories and Funny Pictures' – particularly 'The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches' … and of course Struwwelpeter himself – just like the chap next door …

There are plans for a move to a better area for the family, where their friends are … the little girl turned off a tap – so one of the flats this side of the house didn't have any water – they borrowed from me … not a problem – but the actual tap-stuff was turned off by Amelia the amoeba of the aqua world …

Life in Hilary land … and oh yes … after the peregrinations of the night-time … guess what – it was fire-alarm test day for the flats, then I was meeting friends for coffee up at a local hotel – and yes … you guessed it – the fire-alarm went off there too … thankfully a test … that day I'd had it! Three alarms in less than twelve hours …

That's summed up recent days ... I do hope there will be no more fire alarms, and that the weather will improve … summer really is due soon … isn't it?!

Hilaire Belloc's poem 'Matilda' ... 

Project Gutenberg - includes Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffman

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories